They did specifically state that they cannot get all 3 books out at the same time, for logistical reasons. My guess is August or September for the PHB, September or October for the MM, and October or November for the DMG.
Did they? I think you're right. It's because of the big print runs, and they're not going to spend time and money warehousing the first printed books when they can get them to market while the next one is at the press. So yeah, a cross-autumn rollout is pretty much what we can most likely expect.
The real question is...how much will they be able to interspersed throughout the year? We know about 3 Core books and the Vecna Adventure...but will anything else fit in? An FR slipcase? An Eberron AP...? A new off the wall product like the Deck of Many things...?
Probably room for one, and only one, other product. I honestly have no idea what it could be.
Might not be relevant at this stage, but Winninger had been teasing something classic Setting related for 2024, specifically a return to a Setting already covered in 5E to some extent. Now, is that the sample Setting from the DMG, or Vecna being a worldhoppong book, or something cancelled? Or will we see something like Spelljammer and Planescape for the FR?
I wouldn't be at all surprised to find the Vecna-thing itself to be a slipcase or multi-product thing.
)
Intriguing idea.I wouldn't be at all surprised to find the Vecna-thing itself to be a slipcase or multi-product thing.
(Before I fixed the typo, I had written Vecna-thong! Yikes!
Is there any confirmation that this is still on after Spelljammer? Since they decided to not support Dark Sun from now for problematic content reasons in old Dark Sun, they were going to originally feature a destroyed Athas as the world you visit in the Spelljammer adventure to tie a bow on it.. That changed at the last minute because they didn't want to face the fan blowback of destroying a popular setting in the service of a Spelljammer adventure and avoid attracting the ire of post-Gamergate content creators in what had been a product a lot of people had been looking forward. I was always wondeedr if that was the "glimpse" of a setting that Ray had referred to, but I am hoping that your notion of a sample world in the DMG is still on the table.
In 2014, the PHB dropped in August, the MM in September, and the DMG in December right before Christmas. Probavly something like that.
